Google - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Google office suite not enterprise-ready: study

  At just US$50 (NZ$69) a year per user, Google’s Google Apps Premier Edition (GAPE) hosted office productivity suite could be one of the cheapest mistakes a large business makes.

• Web threatens traditional news organisations

  The internet is a threat to traditional news organisations, which no longer have the advantage of being the first to report breaking news online, according to a Harvard University study (pdf) released last week.

• Google's culture of convenience

  Google is getting rid of its 2038 cookies. That’s the year 2038, when web browser cookies created by its websites over the past decade were set to expire. From now on, Google’s cookies will only last for two years from the date of your last visit to a Google site.

• Online communities a godsend for IT managers

  For many IT professionals, web surfing and Google searches help them get the job done more quickly, according to a recent survey.

• Google unveils widgets to personalise maps

  Google has announced new widgets called Mapplets that will let users gather data from multiple sources to personalise maps.

• Google buys Grand Central

  Google has acquired GrandCentral Communications, which lets users combine all their phone numbers and voicemail boxes under one phone number so they can manage various phone features online. For example, users can set up their accounts so that the number can ring on one or multiple phones, based on who is calling.

• Google pushes court on Microsoft search

  Google has escalated its antitrust battle with Microsoft by questioning its rival's promised changes to Windows Vista search and asking a federal judge to extend oversight to make sure Microsoft follows through.

• Antitrust judge favours Microsoft search agreement

  A US judge said yesterday she will likely defer to an agreement on desktop search forged between Microsoft and the plaintiffs in the US government's antitrust lawsuit against the software vendor, instead of responding to a complaint from rival Google.

• Google to build US$600M datacentre in Iowa

  Google is building a US$600 million datacentre in Council Bluffs, Iowa, that is scheduled to open in the spring of 2009.

• JetBlue to use Google Maps for in-flight tracking

  Airline JetBlue has partnered with Google Maps to allow customers to map the routes of their flights in real time on the plane's seatback televisions.

• After eBay pulls ads, Google cancels offending party

  A contrite and repentant Google cancelled a party that irked eBay and that a source said led eBay to remove all of its ads from Google's US network earlier this week.

• A Kiwi sits 'on the edge of tomorrow' at Google

  Josh Bailey’s Kiwi accent is barely detectable. The San Francisco-based employee of internet behemoth Google says if you don’t pronounce the letter R the American way “they won’t understand you”.

• Google’s year-long shopping spree in review

  Google is expanding seemingly by the minute, and acquisitions are playing a big role in its quest to rule the technology world. Earlier this month, Google said it plans to buy a photo-sharing website called Panoramio and confirmed the acquisition of security software vendor GreenBorder Technologies.

• Google aims at IT managers and CIOs

  Does Google’s Enterprise unit have a good understanding of the needs of IT managers and CIOs?

• Will AI surpass human intelligence by 2020?

  Exactly ten years ago, in May 1997, Deep Blue won the chess tournament against Gary Kasparov. Was that the first glimpse of a new kind of intelligence?